dleahy4444

My son is getting married on the Oasis of the Seas. After a lot of back and forth the hubby and I booked Chops for the rehearsal dinner for 27 guests. They told us that they would have to seat us in two groups (8:30 and 9pm) because of the size of the party. Since they offered no other option, we agreed. However today I saw a video posted be a couple 2 months ago that had a 7:30 reservation but they didn’t get their entrees until 9:30!! They described a very chaotic scene, certainly not what I want to the rehearsal dinner, especially with the seating being staggered. Anyone with any recent experience dining at Chops on the Oasis?

I understand. My issue with all of this is that I’m getting more info and ideas from people on cruise critic than from the “event planners” from RCCl. I’m asking them to help me spend several thousands of dollars on their ship. I’d thought they would be more helpful in explaining the process and exploring options with me.

I completely agree. They have been awful. The bride and groom have emailed their assigned “wedding planner” multiple times with questions and never get a response. My experience with the Oasis Events planner has been difficult. I really regret raising the idea of a cruise wedding to my son and his fiancé. I’ve been on 17 cruises and love being on the water, but it seems that land based customer service is lacking and getting worse

I’m sure that during the length of the cruise we will be meeting at the various bars/ music hall/ clubs. But as the parents of the groom I wanted to try to host the traditional “ rehearsal dinner” the night before the ceremony. I love your idea of a private excursion but there is only one port day before the ceremony (Orlando) and the bride and groom have bachelor/ bachelorette plans in Port that day.

Thank you for sharing your experience. From the responses to posted to my initial question, I’m thinking that a cocktail party for 30 in a suite is probably not easily manageable.

Thank you for your reply. They are working with the ship’s wedding planner but when they asked about me hosting a rehearsal dinner, they were told that I would have to arrange that separately as they only plan the wedding reception, not the rehearsal dinner

The bride and groom have a wedding planner through RCCL that booked the room and offered them a package for the ceremony and the wedding reception. However the planner does not get involved with a rehearsal dinner or cocktail hour. They told my son I’d have to go through Oasis Events planner who is who told me that I’d have to rent out a restaurant or have two separate seatings.

Well I could buy out a specialty restaurant for dinner for 11k which I think is crazy for 30 people. There was no mention of a cocktail hour alternative

Sure are!

That’s what I suspect 😞

Thank you for this information. I thought you can only do it in Star class? Were you in an owner’s suite which is Sky class? I don’t care which class my suite is in, as long as we can do the cocktail party. Right now I’d have to “buy out” an entire specialty restaurant for a sit down dinner, even though it’s only 30 people at a cost over 10k. The other option is not to reserve the whole restaurant, but then our group split in 2 and be seated 30 minutes apart. I was thinking of a cocktail party in our suite as a third option. May I ask how big was your group and the range of cost options? Thanks so much

Which won’t be cheap? I know the suite won’t. Do you mean the cocktail party?

My son is getting married on the Oasis of the Seas. We are thinking about splurging on a Star class suite if we can hold a cocktail party in the suite rather than hosting a rehearsal dinner in a specialty restaurant ( which is problematic logistically). Can the genie arrange a cocktail party that size? I’d want to know if that’s possible before booking the suite? Anyway I could find out in advance?

I agree. I was recently in a situation where we were seated next to a couple that was clearly drunk having an extremely loud argument and dropping “f” bombs. I asked our server to move tables and it was no problem. The couple noticed our exit and perhaps realized they were being inappropriate and left shortly afterwards. As incredible as it maybe, that group may not have realized that they were annoying others. The staff also have no way of knowing unless someone speaks up.

I just saw a sunset veranda become available on my upcoming Edge 11 day sailing, so I jumped on it. My original cabin was an infinite veranda, which I am not fond of, so I had made a Move Up bid for an Aqua stateroom. Now that I’m in the sunset veranda I’m rethinking if I want to bid on the Aqua stateroom. If I win the bid I’ll have to give up the sunset veranda. We do enjoy sitting on a real balcony and enjoying the sunshine. However I like the idea of eating at Blu and it would break up the monotony of the MDR every night on a long cruise. Of course I can stay in the sunset veranda and throw in a few specialty dinners. Balcony or Blu? Tough choice. I’ve never stayed in Aqua before. Is Blu worth it? Anyone face the same choice in the past? What would you do?

Thanks for your response. Certainly something to consider at the time of booking. The perks are nice to have but we wouldn’t go out of our way for them because we don’t really drink or need internet much. I’m mostly interested in getting the Aqua room in order to have access to Blu. However the cruise is less than a week away and there are no more Aqua rooms left. I’m hoping to get one through move up if there are last minute cancellations. It’s unlikely, I know, but still fun to think we have a chance, however improbable. Once we get the rejection email we won’t give it a second thought and just be so happy to be on a cruise at all!

Good to know thanks

Got it thanks. I don’t expect to win but it’s fun just to try to figure out my odds etc.

I wish that I could! The cabin that I truly want is one I can’t afford. If money wasn’t an issue I would have booked it from the beginning. I booked the cabin I could afford and hope to get lucky with an upgrade. Of course I wouldn’t expect to go from an inside cabin to an owners suite. ( I’m not sure if that’s even offered). I’m hoping to go from a veranda to an Aqua. Regardless what happens with my bid, I won’t be disappointed. I look at it like gambling, nice to win but I expect to lose.

Not sure what they mean by a “multiplier”. Let’s say you bid $500 and are Elite, do they add 3% of 500 ($15) to your bid for a total of $515?

Great thanks!

I suppose no one really knows what goes into a successful bid. Bidding high is no guarantee, since instances have been reported where a low bid beat out a higher bid. Does anyone know if your tier standing factors into it? For instance, would someone in the Elite tier get some type of a percentage added to their bid?

We came back from our trip a few months ago. We were very lucky that everything went well. It helped that we were given a brand new car so there were no pre existing dents to dispute. Also we just used the car to drive from town to town. Once at our destination we parked at a garage and either walked or took cabs. We never parked on the street. We were in Sicily during shoulder season, so it wasn’t as crowded as it could have been

I think it is high also and I live in New York which is crazy expensive. I’m on the fence but may go for it, at least once in my cruising career lol.

Thanks so much. Its pricey but I’m tempted to try it since it seems like something special that we would do only once. I think it might be on the day that we are overnight in Aruba and I made a reservation at a beachfront restaurant so I’ll have to decide which I would prefer to do. I’m so lucky to have this type of problem! Life is short and we’ve worked hard so, yes, we want to enjoy every opportunity that we can.